Nurse Charged With Stealing Drugs From Veterans Hospital

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A nurse at a veterans hospital has been charged with stealing drugs on more than 70 occasions.

Matthew Leininger, 42, is charged with five counts of theft by swindle for allegedly stealing fentanyl, morphine and oxycodone between June 22, 2016, and Dec. 25, 2016, according to Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman.

Leininger worked as a nurse at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He was required to log in to the drug dispensary machine using a user ID and fingerprint. After obtaining the drugs, nurses are required to record how much of the drug was given to the patient or how much was wasted.

Records show Leininger did not record that the drugs were given to a patient or wasted on 34 days, with multiple thefts on some of those days, according to the criminal complaint. In 31 other cases, Leininger recorded a partial administration, but not the resulting waste, or vice versa – recording partial waste but not the concurrent administration to a patient.

Leininger was fired in March, according to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.